United Removes Passenger From Flight After He Asks Whether A Meal Will Be Served

Over at JoeSugarman.com, Joe writes that on his way home from a seminar in Austin, he settled into his first class seat–he’s what United Airlines calls a 1K traveler because he flies over 100,000 miles with them every year–and asked the flight attendant, “Are you serving any meals during our flight?” A few minutes later, he writes, “two armed Austin police officers boarded the plane, looked at me and said, ‘Sugarman, follow us.'”

Okay, in the flight attendant’s defense, she says she thought Joe asked her if there were police on the flight. But not in her defense: WTF, seriously flight attendant? You couldn’t even say, “I beg your pardon” or “Would you repeat the question” to confirm that you had an evil ‘sploding terrorist on board?

A United customer service agent explained to Sugarman that after hearing from the flight attendant, the pilot “was not going to take any chances” and asked that Sugarman be removed.

Oddly, United was willing to take any chances on the next available flight, which left the airport two hours later with Sugarman on board.

Beckons to flight attendant with a slight motion of the head.
As she approaches, looks over shoulder and around plane.
Eyes continue shifting and scanning the area as he asks,
“Are you… serving any “meals” during our flight?”
“Wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean, know what I mean?”

We’re in the land of the TSA stealing a war hero’s Medal of Honor because it has a penknife attached to it, and you think *this* is extreme?

We’re in a land where airline *incompetence* means that the Israeli PM’s bodyguards’ weapons are lost, no one can find them, but you’ll be *arrested as a terrorist* if you try to board with a legally licensed firearm, and you think *THIS* is extreme?

I’ll certainly believe your opinion on the story, with no first hand knowledge, over the person who actually experienced this, runs a blog and website which requires a sense of integrity to maintain readerbase, and is being publicized across the internet while painting United in a bad light, that if found false could be held liable for a lawsuit against him for libel.

I think we know by now that blogs can get a large readership without having the finest of integrity. While I doubt that there’s no truth to this story at all, I’m inclined to at least be skeptical of his side. It’s possible that this was a royal eff-up on the part of Continited, but it’s also possible that he had a provoking influence as well.

I can’t help but wonder what the other side of the story is, even if that’s not a “pro-consumer” attitude on my part.

His/her point is that to run a blog successfully, especially one under your own name, you need to maintain an air of credibility at least among your core audience. Making up a story like this wouldn’t be good for that credibility.

Basically, what’s in it for him to make this up, versus what is risked?

regardless of him being obnoxious… lets say he was a total douche bag “Get me this, get me that” kinda guy… removing him for the reason of asking whether or not there are police on board is ridiculous!

Unfortunately I’m going with “true.” I’ve seen a ton of shenanigans like this on AA (including seeing people taken off flights three times so far this year….although all out of ORD).

F/A are, as a general rule, very nice and courteous. However, there are some power-hungry ones out there that love to enforce various “rules and company regulations” at a whim.

The one thing I do wonder is HOW he asked the question. I’ve seen my fair share of super-duper-quadruple executive-platinum-for-life elites act like complete and utter tools towards the F/C F/A. I find saying “please,” and “thank you” while acting like a human being and not like some lord of the manor gets me my drinks refilled faster and generally anything within reason I ask for. It’s like when people hit elite status they turn into monstrous jerk-wads. CK members are the worst.

AAEXP for the last 3 years, AAPLT from 99-on…so I fly them, you know, a lot.

Ionno, when I’m in confined places, what I do is think of really awesome things that can go wrong and how I can spring up and save the day. Obviously, this stewardess is not like me (Or the vast amount of other imaginative people that do this) and instead opt’d for the “panic mode”

Read “The Amazing Journey of Joseph Sugarman” from his website, which commentor ncmedcompute was kind enough to post further down the page. Tell me the guy that wrote this wouldn’t skew his side of the story.

United Airlines needs to fire this attendant for being a complete moron. How in the hell can you misshear, “are there police on the flight” for “are there any meals on this flight”. Police? Meals? How did she mixed this up? His face was probably no more than 12 inches from hers. I can hear what my co-worker says to me and he is 30 feet from me in the next cubicle. Maybe there should be a hearing aptitude test to pass before working in this field. And the article is right in saying merely “excuse me could you repeat what you just said”. That doesn’t take much effort.

In her defense, just five years of working around jet engines can alter your hearing. He probably asked in the middle of boarding, possibly from a few rows away, in the middle of everyone else finding their seats, orchestrating family seating charts, and stowing bags – it’s incredibly difficult to hear anything in that situation, and if he was covering his mouth in any way, I can see how the flight attendant would mishear.

Heâ€™s by no means â€œYour Average Joe.â€ In fact, thereâ€™s nothing average about him. No â€œAverage Joeâ€ could be such a creative, diverse, and successful entrepreneur. Itâ€™s far from average to sell millions of people on products they didnâ€™t even know they needed, right?

No â€œAverage Joeâ€ could wear the many hats he has with style, grace, and excellence. Joe Sugarman, marketing legend, author and businessman, friend and father, husband and humanitarianâ€¦continues passionately helping others on his amazing journey.

WRITING HIS OWN TICKET

Joe Sugarmanâ€™s writing path was inked in 5th grade when a funny essay got A+ reviews from classmates. Meanwhile, his teacher felt more like adding a pair of the letter S to the end of that A. Oh well.

Later, at Oak Park River Forest High School in the Chicago area, Joe followed in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway, writing a column for the school newspaper and then not writing that column because it was too conservative. In early Sugarman style, Joe published his own magazine about what interested students.

As a standout Electrical Engineering Major at the University of Miami, he plugged into the absolute lowest Animal House fraternity, just so he could engineer the turnaround from worst to first on campus. He succeeded.

TWO WORDS THAT DONâ€™T GO TOGETHER: MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

College students voluntarily join the ROTC to enter the military as an officer. Joe Sugarman did, but again his results werenâ€™t average. One semester before graduation, the U.S. Army drafted him. He pled his case about the dumb decision, but ran into something like the very reason he was drafted â€“the Berlin Wall.

At basic training, Joe was picked as a potential candidate for the Armyâ€™s intelligence school. He then attended the military intelligence school and got to the attention of the commanding general who recognized Sugarmanâ€™s unique ability to turn problems into opportunities. The general then gave Sugarman a special assignment in Germany where he learned not only the tricks of the intelligence trade but the German language as well.

After three and a half years in Europe, Joe Sugarman came home to America to work on selling direct mail advertising for a ski lift manufacturer, not exactly a hot business. But his clever ads lifted the hopes of several ski resorts, who pressured Joe into opening an advertising agency. This snowballed into the extraordinary career that included these highlights.

* Taking the nation by storm in promoting snowmobile usage through playfully banning female drivers during the peak of the â€œWomenâ€™s Libâ€ era.

* Offering his client the first pocket calculator to sell in 1970. The client asked, â€œWho would buy such a thing?â€ Then told Joe to sell it himself. He did, millions worth.

* Introducing the 800 toll-free number to direct marketing.

* Author of the â€œBiblesâ€ on copywriting and triggers that convert into sales.

* Using a product from a bankrupt company that made shades for NASA to protect astronauts from the sunâ€™s UV and blue rays, and transforming it into the popular, multi-million dollar brand of BluBlocker Sunglasses.

How do you keep the music playing?

Itâ€™s a question this visionary is now driven to answer. Joe Sugarman says, â€œYou canâ€™t delegate entrepreneurship. Youâ€™ve got to be in there, hands on.â€ Now heâ€™s working to keep the music playing for all of us as President of Stem120. The company boasts a unique line of breakthrough products designed to help people live long healthy lives without disease until the age of 120.

Thereâ€™s the skincare sensation, Signals, with an anti-aging peptide that signals your cells to regenerate. Thereâ€™s Protect120, the only product that actually supplements Glutathione, the bodyâ€™s most powerful antioxidant. Thereâ€™s ModeraXL, the All-Natural Addiction Solution that fills the void of the biochemical aspect of treatment and recovery. Yet, thereâ€™s more, much more coming soon.

Halfway Home

Joe Sugarman has enjoyed 71 years of living fully. He could easily be relaxing in retirement in either of his homes in Maui or Las Vegas. But heâ€™s both young and young at heart. He does 25 chin-ups every day, when most people canâ€™t do one. He fasts regularly. And he uses all of the Stem120 products every day.

So donâ€™t waste time doing your math on Joe Sugarmanâ€™s age and expected longevity. Try his math, and then try it for yourself. Youâ€™ll enjoy life much more and much longer.

In the mind of Joe Sugarman, heâ€™s just past halfway home on his amazing lifeâ€™s journey from ski lifts to stem cells. Thatâ€™s not only great news for him. Youâ€™ll be seeing, hearing, and reading how itâ€™s great news soon for you, too.

how is he a shill? i figured he quoted the whole thing here so we could read it without having to give the guy any more page hits. this Sugarman character seems like a grade A douche regardless. i’m glad i could read it without earning him a nickel in ad revenue

Then posting this wall of text is counter-productive, wouldn’t you say? I mean, why should we go to the OP’s web site if we’re getting entire pages of it here? (That better be the whole page, I’d hate to think that’s the abridged version)

I agree with the other poster. Something smells odd about this story, we are likely not hearing the complete truth from one side or maybe both. That is the problem with many stories here and on the net in general – lack of valid, independent verification….

Lesson: 1) Don’t check your guitar on United. 2) do not speak unless spoken to on United. 3) Make sure you don’t pay the least amount for your ticket, 3) Measure your bag and make sure it’s at least 1″ shorter than the published dimensions. 4) Bring many eBooks w/batteries with you for the times you’re waiting on the tarmac 5) make sure your luggage is rated to withstand United luggage handlers. I could go on and on…

Yuri, the Russian super-spy, will be on this flight today. He will fly first class. He’s been instructed to identify himself to his contact, who [until he was arrested a few moments ago] was impersonating a flight attendant on the flight.

His identification passphrase to his contact is “Are you serving any meals during our flight?”

isn’t anyone going to mention the weirdness even if he did ask about police? Since when is it wrong to ask if there are police on board the plane? maybe i feel safer knowing they’re there. maybe i’m just curious. why would an actual terrorist care? or fly first class?

That sucks he got pulled off the plane without even doing anything. He should get a free pass now to do something that would get him kicked off. Like at the first sign of turbulance scream “OMFG WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!”.

Wait, the two armed Austin officers who hauled him off to pokey arrested him by saying “Sugarman, follow us”? Really? Just like that, “Sugarman,” like they were long-lost buddies?

I’ve never in my life heard of a police officer addressing a person about to be arrested by their surname, with no honorific. Ne. Ver. And I’m not buying that the officers in Austin started some new trend, either. This did not happen, or at least not the way Sugarman, just “Sugarman,” is reporting it.

I NEVER fly UA. Avoid ‘em at all costs. Will pay extra, take extra stops, whatever it takes to circumvent them.
Their employees have THE worst attitude. It used to be Northwest but since the merger I am withholding judgment of Delta, so far so good.
UA management should mandate all their employees fly one leg a year on Southwest Airlines to know EXACTLY who they are competing with (Iknow, I know, there are also some bad Southwest Airlines employees, but I assure you thereare far fewer.)
As near as I can tell they think they have a monopoly in the airline business.

This sounds like is a he said – she said situation that got out of hand.
But then again…flight crews have pretty much been given carte blanch liberty to say anything they want under Homeland Security rules.